


Unrequited

by gonefornow



Category: 5 Seconds of Summer (Band)
Genre: Bottom Calum, Cal takes one for the team, Dubious Consent, M/M, Pining, Rejection, Straight Calum, Top Luke
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-01-07
Updated: 2015-01-07
Packaged: 2018-03-06 14:53:09
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,815
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3138353
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gonefornow/pseuds/gonefornow
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Plot summary: After years of pining and being rejected by Calum, Luke decides he needs a break from 5SOS. Eleven months later, SyCo is threatening to drop them, the fans have stopped begging for a tour. Luke knows time is running out. 5SOS is becoming irrelevant and he is the one responsible. But he isn’t up to facing life yet.</p><p>What happens when Calum shows up at his door and offers himself to Luke in exchange for saving 5SOS?</p>
            </blockquote>





	Unrequited

Knock. Knock.

Luke doesn't know who the hell is knocking at his door. Maybe his mom again. Or Jack. Or Ben. His family doesn't seem to get that he wants to be left alone now. It could be Michael or Ashton, trying to get him out of his rut. Or maybe this is pure business and one of 5SOS's managers' have sent an errand boy to beg him to return to making music?

He loves them all. He loves what they've become together. It's painful for him that his heart's not in it. And it's killing him that his choices are stopping Michael and Ashton from being able to do what they want to. But he can't handle this anymore. He is exhausted after years of pining and unrequited longing.

In the beginning he had hoped enough to spill out an awkward drunken confession one night. And he had waited with baited breath. But that shred of hope was cut mercilessly as Calum laughed off his heart-felt confession, pushed Luke's hand away even as Luke tried to reach for him, and pretended like Luke was just joking around.

The next day, they both acted like nothing happened. But something subtle shifted in Calum. He was still friendly as ever with Luke. But he made sure to leave constant hints that he was straight and not interested.

And so they continued on. Luke pining away, but now with no more hope. For a while, Luke nursed the dream that things would get easier and he would stop fantasizing about having Calum for himself. He screwed around, just like the rest of the band. Guys and girls. Tried drowning himself in alcohol for a little while to try to forget. But the pain of seeing Calum hook up with women, even go through a relationship, none of it got any better.

So after two torturous years of pretending like he hadn't been rejected by the love of his life, Luke stopped trying. Calum just looked too beautiful when he was up on the stage, head thrown back and fingers expertly working the bass. And he was too alive, too desirable when they were on their tour-bus. Luke could not stand being around him anymore, knowing he would never have him. In April, he announced to the band that he needed some time.

When the knocking doesn't stop, Luke sighs and yanks the door open.

“What?!” He growls, before he even properly looks at who is standing on the other side. When he finally pays attention, he is speechless.

Even after years of breaking Luke’s heart, Calum still manages to make his breath hitch.

“Hey man…,” Calum starts awkwardly, a hand in his black hair. At 22, he’s only become more beautiful since they broke out big in 2014. Luke keeps gaping at him.

“Luke…?” Calum interrupts his thoughts. “C-can I come in?”

Luke snaps back to reality in that moment. “Uh… yea… sure,” he moves from the door, making space for Calum to step through into the apartment.

“Nice place,” Calum admires as he looks at the granite countertops and the electric fireplace.

Luke is reminded that Calum’s never been to his place before, although Luke’s had it for a year now. Ashton and Michael each have their own designated rooms they stay in when they visit, complete with sets of their own clothes stored away in the closets and posters of their favorite bands hanging on the walls. Not Calum though. Calum never expressed any interest in seeing Luke’s first home and Luke never invited him over.

So Luke doesn’t understand what’s happened. “Why are you here?” He asks, voice exhausted. He knows he should try to be nicer, try to keep up the façade of their friendship, even though it’s been awkward and strained since long before he decided he needed a break from the band.

Because that’s what happens when one person wants another, and the feelings are unrequited.

Calum raises an eyebrow. “So I guess we’re not going to ease into it then,” he says, laughing like it’s a joke. He takes a seat on Luke’s beat-up couch (it came from his parents’ garage).

“We’re past of point of pretty veneers,” Luke answers him, feeling stupid for saying something that feels like it could be a song lyric.

Calum doesn't seem to notice. His mouth firmly set in a line. “I’m not attracted to men.” The declaration is short and simple.

Luke has dealt with Calum’s rejections before. But this is so blunt, so direct that even after the years of experience, Luke feels a little pinch in his heart.

“I know,” Luke answers him. “So why are you here? It’s not like I’ve asked for anything from you.”

Calum raises his eyebrows. “Our band, the thing we worked so hard for is dying. And it’s because you’ve decided to become a hermit.”

Luke doesn’t bother sugar-coating the truth. “I can’t anymore,” he declares softly. “I did that for years. I watched you every night. And I can’t go back to doing it again. Not if I want to stay sane.”

“Do you know how selfish you sound?” Calum’s voice is angry. “It’s not just you, or even me, and Michael and Ashton. It’s the whole crew that supports us, the people who depend on us for work. The fans.”

Instead of guilt, Luke feels anger. “Are you asking me to endure another tour, another album pining after you, feeling rejected and depressed everyday?”

Calum doesn’t speak for a while. And when he does, his voice is resigned.

“No, I know that’s not fair to you,” he says. He sounds like he’s made up his mind about something, although Luke doesn’t know what.

The next thing Luke knows, Calum is kissing him. Soft plump lips he’s craved for years are pressed up against him as Calum wraps his arms Luke’s neck, drawing him closer.

This is wrong. Luke knows it. Whatever is happening, it’s not because Calum actually wants him. But Luke can’t bring himself to care. Before he understands what he’s doing, he growls and kisses Calum back, arms winding around slender waist as he draws Calum into his lap. Luke is already semi-hard and Calum shifts uncomfortably in his lap.

Noticing Calum's discomfort, Luke breaks the kiss. “What is this?” He leans his forehead against Calum’s and stares into dark eyes. The bassist looks stunning, his lips are bruised and already swelling from the long, rough kiss. His mouth is gaping open as he takes in big gulps of air, trying to catch his breath.

Calum raises one thick eyebrow at him. “Isn’t it obvious?”

It is obvious. Calum is offering himself to Luke in the hopes that Luke will go back to 5SOS. Luke knows it shouldn’t be this way. If he was a better man, he would stop this. But right now, he doesn’t care. All he needs to know is how far Calum will let him go.

“I want to… inside you…” He trails off, staring at the beautiful prize finally in his arms after years of longing. It’s an incomplete thought, but enough that Luke knows Calum will understand just how much Luke wants from him.

Luke sees the pretty blush spreading down Calum’s face; the older boy has dropped his gaze and Luke can feel his discomfort. For a moment, Luke fears Calum will push him away now.

Then Calum sighs and nods.

Luke studies him for a long moment. "All right." They both know what this is. But he wonders if their expectations are the same. Then Calum kisses him again and all thoughts go out the window replaced instead by a primal need to claim and possess.

Luke doesn't quite know how they make it back to his bedroom without falling. Their mouths are melded together, his hands cupping Calum's shapely ass in an effort to memorize every inch of that supple frame. It's a bit of a struggle to get them both undressed, but soon they are lying chest to chest, kissing again as Luke's heavy frame presses Calum into the mattress.

An hour later, Calum is exhausted and in pain. Luke was extremely gentle with him, taking time to prepare him thoroughly and giving him plenty of time adjust once he'd pushed inside before he started thrusting. But it was Calum's first time with a man and as hard as he tried, he just couldn't relax.

He knows Luke sensed his discomfort. The younger boy pulled out of him immediately after he came. Now, Luke is sitting up in bed as Calum still tries to catch his breath after his orgasm. He stares at Luke’s broad back, flushing as he notices the blunt red scratches he’s left on the pale skin.

“So was this a one time thing?” Luke asks. He sounds so tired, so drained now. And Calum knows it’s not just the toll of intense love-making.

“Was it enough?” Calum asks, still hopeful that perhaps this is what Luke needed. Maybe now that they’ve been together, Luke will be able to move on and they can go back to being band-mates and brothers they started out as.

But in the next instance Luke crushes that hope.

“No. Giving yourself to me once isn't going to get me back,” Luke shakes his head. “You can’t offer me your heart, so you offer me your body instead. If this is what you’re willing to do to get 5SOS back up and running again, I want you in my bed every night.” He knows he sounds so cold, so business-like. It breaks his heart because all he wants is to woo Calum, shower him with love and attention and make him understand how much he’s cherished. But Calum is not giving him that chance.

So Luke will take what he can get. God help him, but if he has to manipulate and abuse what they've built together to keep Calum beside him, that's what he will do.

When he came here, Calum knew there was a chance Luke would ask for something like this. But he'd had faith in their years of friendship, on Luke understanding that tonight was Calum's way of making a peace-offering that might allow him to move on.

He is tempted to just get out of bed, and leave the apartment. Leave 5SOS and most of all, leave Luke and his demands behind forever.

But he knows he cannot. He loves 5SOS and he wants to get back out on the road, get back to making music. And just from logistics, he needs the money too since he's blown off most of what he made from the earlier tours and albums.

"Okay," he agrees, turning over to his side and shifting uncomfortably as he feels Luke's cum leak out of him and resigns himself to getting used to it.


End file.
